The Work Moves Forward

Hey fam,

This week was really good. Another week that just flew by!  It has been in the 80s and 90s all week temperature wise, and hit 100 today.  And this is supposed to be Spring.  We did quite a bit of service this week, mainly in the landscaping department, and moving bags of concrete that weigh more than I do. We helped out Hermana Martinelli and one of her nonmember friends. We visited Alejandra almost everyday this week, making sure she felt ready for the baptism. 

Thursday was a really good day. We had a lesson with Catalina, the girl who got baptized last week, who brought her friend, Valentina, who appears to be legitimately interested in the gospel as well. Also, we went to Salsipuedes on Thursday, which is a little pueblito outside of Rio Ceballos. Cordoba Capital is like Houston, Rio Ceballos is Sugarland, and Salsipuedes is Sienna Plantation, at least in regards to distances.  Although we ride busses, so everything takes quite a bit longer. And Salsipuedes is probably the poorest of the 3 as well. We went to visit Susanna, who we found a couple of weeks ago, and had already read the whole Book of Mormon when we found her. We went over the Plan of Salvation, and she was in tears as we went over the Atonement. She is in a rough situation right now, separated from her husband who is an alcoholic and she’s living in the back of her sewing shop. As we talked about how Christ knew what she was going through, and had suffered for all of these pains and afflictions that she is experiencing, the Spirit was incredibly strong. She told us that she needs to be baptized, but doesn’t want to rush anything or feel pressured. She’s already told us that she knows the Book of Mormon is true and is currently in the process of reading it again.  It’s only a matter of time, we are going back on Thursday to teach the Restoration, which she is already familiar with. We’ll see what happens!

Saturday we had burgers with the Stake President, and then the baptism of Alejandra! Elder Gravelle and I have been teaching her for the past 2 1/2 months, and it is amazing to see the progression that she has made in that time.  I remember the first time we went to her home, it was my 3rd day in Argentina, and she didn’t want anything. The only reason we went back is because her daughter was interested. Now, after slow and steady progress week by week, she made it. The baptismal service was really nice, her daughter even came.  The only reason she isn’t baptized yet is because she lives with her boyfriend, but we´re trying to fix that.  The Bishop performed the ordinance because he knew her, and the Spirit was there in abundance. It is really neat to see how people completely change into new, better, and happier people when they live the Gospel.

Answers to the fam’s ?’s :

My shoes are always dusty, I have to brush them off every night when I get home.  No primary program as of yet, and I haven’t heard anything about one. Nobody snores, and the food I miss most from home are the chocolate chip cookies.  Send me the recipe!   I will try to celebrate Thanksgiving, although I doubt I will be with this companion because transfers are this weekend and we have already been together for nearly 3 months. Spiritual highlight of the week was the Atonement discussion with Susanna, closely followed by the baptism.  I just finished reading Jesus the Christ.  I am currently studying a lot about the Atonement and the life of Christ.  We do have a baptismal font, and what made me smile today was opening up my email and seeing how loved I am by friends and family.  Glad to hear that everybody is having fun and doing well!

Love you all,

Elder Mangum

PS - No pictures this week, got a bad computer.  Next week I’ll send them, the baptism was a blast! I would love the chocolate chip cookie recipe, and any others that you think are simple and I could use here.  Love you!

Baptism!



Catelina's Baptism!

 

Hey fam,

This week flew by. They say everything goes a lot faster and is a lot more fun when you’re baptizing, and I can testify to that! Tuesday was a fun, or rather a very funny day.  A recent convert of about 2 years invited us over for lunch on her birthday, she’s about 45 and has kids in primary and young womens. Her mother, who is not a member and is legally blind, also came.  Everything was going pretty normal until they brought out the cake that the old blind lady had made. It was chocolate and banana, and tasted terrible...I could have sworn the bananas were rotten or something. So we finish eating the cake, and the mom starts cackling over in the corner, and we ask what is so funny.  She then tells us that she spiked the cake with liquor AFTER it had been cooked, and that is why it tasted so different and was so moist that it was literally soaked in alcohol.  Needless to say, everything from that point on that day was a little off!  I had made it nearly 19 years without ever partaking of a drop of alcohol, then 3 months into being a missionary that´s not true anymore.  Definitely not a story I was expecting to ever tell!

Thursday Catalina passed her baptismal interview.  This is the 17 year old girl who is neighbors with the stake president and showed up out of the blue to General Conference and loved it.  She had been prepared for baptism before we even showed up.  Saturday was the baptism, a very good day.  My first baptism of the mission, hopefully the first of many to come. The stake president performed the ordinance, which was really cool because he has known her since she was a toddler. On Sunday she got confirmed, and Alejandra showed up for church.  Alejandra will should be getting baptized this upcoming Saturday, 2 baptisms in 2 weeks!  Which is really good in this area, they have only had about 8 in the past year. I was supposed to give a talk on Sunday as well, but the other missionary who spoke, not my companion, took over 30 minutes so they postponed my talk for another week. It was also Mother’s Day here in Argentina, and we had dinner with Hermana Martinelli, who has been a widow for about 25 years. She sends her saludos (best wishes) to the family, specifically Mom, and says thank you for allowing me to leave yall for 2 years to come bless the people here.

The strangest thing I have eaten in Argentina, other than that cake, is blood sausage.  They do celebrate Halloween, but it is not as big, and there is no peanut butter.  The best thing of the week was definitely the baptism.  Funniest thing this week was the whole day of Tuesday.  Something I am grateful for today would have to be pictures, because they bring back lots of memories.  If I had to give a talk, it would be on Mosiah 18, the baptismal covenant...oh wait I am giving a talk on that soon!   It is awesome to hear how well everybody is doing, and how much fun yall are having.

Love you all!

Michael  

Our District


 

View from our apartment



Intercambios, Noche de Hogar y Tramites

Hey Fam,

We got electricity!  After nearly 3 weeks, we finally got it back on Tuesday.  Unfortunately I left Tuesday morning to do intercambios (exchanges) with the Zone Leaders, so I didn´t get to enjoy it until the next day.  Monday we had Noche de Hogar (FHE) con Familia Aspitia, and they had never heard of milkshakes, so I made some for them and they loved it.  Milkshakes and smoothies aren´t a big thing here, but I’m trying to fix that.  Wednesday we got a new, full time missionary to replace the mini missionary.  Elder Willis, from Jacksonville, Florida.  Back to having 4 gringos in the apartment. On Thursday I finally got a haircut, from a miembro, Hermano Keller.  He didn´t really know how to cut hair, but it turned out alright, and saved me 50 pesos, which down here is a lot. We only get 1400 for the month.  Friday I was in the city of Cordoba all day doing tramites, which is just paperwork to make me legal in the country because my travel visa was about to expire.  We had to wake up at 3:30 to make it over there by 6:30 in the morning, and we were there until after 4 in the afternoon.  All I did the entire day was sign 3 pieces of paper. But now I am legal until next August, so that is a good thing.  Also, I was able to catch up with my old MTC buddy Elder Garrett and talk about what’s been going on for the past 2+ months that we´ve been in Argentina. Sunday was solid, we had cake with a converso reciente, Ruth, her one year anniversary of being a member.  She is getting ready to serve a mission of her own, she has already started her papers.  

Milagro (miracle) this week, we had a nonmember show up to conference with her neighbors, name of Catelina, 17 years old.  We passed by her house this week and taught her the Restoration, and she committed to be baptized on the 18th.  And, her father already gave her his permission to be baptized.  She showed up to church yesterday as well, and is really excited to be baptized. Alejandra passed her baptismal interview, but then didn´t show up to church yesterday, so she won’t be baptized until at least the 25th. She has completely stopped smoking though, all she has to do is show up to church.  She believes that it is all true, so we’ll see what happens!  It is hard to write in English, because I now dream and think in Spanish, and the computers tell me that every word is spelled wrong in English.

They are making a big push with family history here, they just got the My Family little booklets.  I actually am supposed to ask you for information and pictures to fill out the book, about all of my great grandparents, grandparents, parents, and the siblings of all those people as well.  There is time in the schedule to exercise everyday, and we almost always eat cold cereal for breakfast, although the new guy wants to start making stuff.  When the electricity was out, we used both flashlights and candles.  We usually teach lessons just at the homes of the investigators, and usually have 2 or 3 set appointments and just drop by for the rest.  We have used the Restoration video, Finding Faith in Christ, and On the Lord’s Errand, the documentary of President Monson’s life. As far as packages go, nobody really gets any, and if you want to send me something for my birthday, you would probably have to send it now for it to get here even close to then.

I’m glad to hear that Hayley’s volleyball team is killing it, and that everybody is having fun at home!  Love and miss you all.

Elder Mangum

PS- No pictures this week, we are at a different internet cafe that has a reputation for destroying SIM cards so I’m not going to risk it.

General Conference



Hey fam,

This week was pretty good, it flew by.  Still don’t have electricity, it’s been nearly 3 weeks now, and I have gotten used to showering from a bucket.  Not sure if that’s a good thing. The new missionary in our pension had to head home, so he got replaced with a mini missionary from the next stake over. We gave Alejandra a blessing on Tuesday to help her stop smoking, and she hasn’t smoked a cigarette yet! She has a baptismal interview scheduled for tomorrow.  We got to watch all of conference in Spanish, except for one session, and that session just happened to be the one where Elder Holland talked, so that was definitely a blessing!  I would have to say that conference is far more enjoyable to watch in English, when you get to hear their actual voices and the emotion, you can’t really get that with the translators. Didn´t have a problem understanding it in Spanish, and it was cool to listen to people speak in their native tongues, it was neat to see how much Portuguese I could understand, more than I thought I would!  All of the members brought food on Sunday to eat in between the sessions, because they are at 1 and 5 in the afternoon here. 

Couple of thoughts that I really enjoyed from conference.

Elder Callister- The role of a parent is sacred, it is an enormous responsibility to be able to raise and teach children.

Elder Holland- It is a duty to bless and help the poor.  Do what you can, its about love, not statistics. 

Elder Bednar- Disciples of Christ should ALWAYS be valiant missionaries. 

President Monson- Christ´s path will always lead us safely home.

And my personal favorite, from Elder Perry- Who can put a price tag on the influence of a mother on their children?  I loved that one, makes me extremely grateful for the mother I have and all that my parents taught me! 

No extra security from what I have heard, I had heard about what went down in Buenos Aires though. Our mission home already had a 24/7 guard because of the construction on the Temple that is on the same property.  I have plenty of ties, but something that I have not been able to find here is contact solution.  Not sure if I am not looking in the right places or what, but that is something that would definitely come in handy.  What do I miss most from home...probably either my bed or the restroom.  Particularly the shower.  And of course, mi familia as well! 

Hope everybody is doing well, praying for everybody day and night.

Love,

Elder Mangum

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/watch/2014/10?lang=eng&vid=3821264213001&cid=10



3 Months

Hey everybody,

This week was pretty good.  It is getting hotter and hotter here.  We have yet to get electricity back, so I am still showering from a bucket.  Almost 2 weeks already without it, we will see how long it takes them to turn it back on. On Tuesday we had to go to the hospital to give a blessing to the 75 year old that we had given service to last week, Hermano Alegre.  When we got there he was speaking complete gibberish, but we gave him a blessing and he was at church on Sunday, and was completely fine. Thursday night we went to the Kellers, the most gringo-ish people here, and I made milkshakes for everybody.  It was fun, brought back memories from Bahama Bucks. Also, they had a plant with peppers that they thought were extremely hot, but I popped one in my mouth like it was nothing.  The Argentine definition of Picante is about the norm for mexican food, not spicy at all.  Saturday we had lunch with the Stake President, and helped him trim some of his trees.  He was having a little too much fun with the chainsaw if you ask me.  We just cleared the branches that he cut down, nothing too hard. 

This week we continued teaching Familia Herredia, there are 4 of them, and the "wife" is pregnant. They’re not married.  They are really enjoying the lessons though, and we´ve already taught the law of chastity and they want to get married, they already have all the paperwork and everything, they just need to do it.  They came to church this past Sunday for the first time, and it seemed like they enjoyed it.  They have a plan to get married in the next 3 weeks, so we hopefully will baptize them by the end of the month. They’re a really amazing family, keeping all their commitments and reading the Book of Mormon everyday.  Our other investigator, Alejandra is continuing to struggle to stop smoking, but she is smoking less and less everyday, and she also reads the Book of Mormon everyday, which she says helps her to focus on things other than the next cigarette. It is amazing to see how much happier people are with the gospel in their lives compared to the first time we met them.

As far as needs go, I think I am doing pretty good.  We have a CD player and listen to music, when we have electricity. The happiest moment this past week was seeing the Herredia family walk into church together.  We have yet to use the washing machine, because we have no electricity.  This last week I learned, or rather re-learned, how much the gospel really brings true happiness into people´s lives.  My favorite story in the Bible is probably the life of Christ, particularly the last 36 hours or so of his life.  I am currently about halfway through Jesus the Christ, definitely teaching me a lot.

Glad to hear everybody is doing well.  The work here is definitely progressing, and I am looking forward to conference this next weekend.  You’re all in my prayers every morning and every night!

Love,

Elder Mangum

1st Set of Transfers

Hermana Martinelli's 25th Anniversary of Baptism

Family,

This week was really good. Tuesday was highlighted by the addition of a washing machine to the pension, which was completely unexpected, but they are trying to get all of the pensions to have the same items and utilities. Wednesday we had lunch with Hermana Martinelli, it was her 25th anniversary of being baptized.  I also participated in giving another couple of blessings, it is really cool to see the faith of people in the power of the priesthood. Thursday was really good, we had the Word of Wisdom lesson with Alejandra, and brought a convert who had struggled with some of the same things that she is struggling with. She committed to stop smoking and to live the commandment. We also contacted a reference, Familia Heredia, taught them the Restoration and placed a tentative baptismal date of the 11th of October.  Friday morning my companion and I did service for the 75 year old counselor to the Bishop who is slowly dying, we just moved some stuff in his backyard and listened to him talk and tell stories, and show us pictures from 30 years ago.  He really appreciated it, and I enjoyed it as well. 

We visited a less active family, Familia Olmos, and had a really powerful lesson there. The 17 year old daughter is completely inactive, she had a baby a year ago that passed away right after childbirth, and is struggling to understand why God would take her son away from her like that. We explained the Plan of Salvation, and asked her what she thought God felt when He had to watch His firstborn son, Jesus Christ, be tortured and killed for the salvation of all of the rest of His children.  By the end of the lesson the whole family was practically in tears, the Spirit that was felt in that house that evening was incredibly strong.

That same night, Friday, we came home to find that our electricity and power had been cut off. The mission office had forgotten to pay the electric bill.  As of right now, we are still without electricity.  No electricity means no water heater either. We do have a gas stove though, so in order to shower we would heat up water in a bucket, then take cups full of the hot water and dump it on top of our heads over and over. Little bit different than back home!  

On Sunday Alejandra came to church for the 3rd week in a row, we could very easily be having a baptism for her very soon if she can stop smoking.  This morning we said goodbye to Elder Perez, the elder from Nicaragua whose English vocabulary is limited to the words of the songs in the movie Frozen, he’s now finished his 2 years in the mission and is headed home. We have a new Elder know, Elder Knutzen from Utah. 4 gringos in one apartment, that’s not normal.  Elder Perez said this morning "Me siento mal. Estoy triste."- I feel bad. I’m sad.  His mission is over, that must be a really weird feeling.  My first transfer in the field is over, we found out Saturday night who stayed and who left the area. I have the same companion, this next transfer should be a good one.

Q&A - I don’t drink a ton of soda here, but when I do it is almost always Coca Cola, the Argentines love coke. I haven’t learned to cook anything new at all, and we MIGHT have a baptism Saturday if Alejandra can not smoke a cigarette all week.  We will get General Conference live in our building, which will be in Spanish of course.  We’ll play sports with the locals as well as the missionaries.  Scriptures we used this week...Body is a Temple.  There are several scriptures in Corinthians about that, I invite you all to search them out for yourself- :)

Glad to hear that everybody is doing well.  Love you all!

Elder Mangum

Busy Week



Awesome service project!



Dear fam,

This week passed by in a blur.  Monday was P-day, and we has the whole zone come down and pay soccer and football in Rio Ceballos, then had a "splash" which means that everybody in the zone contacted and tracted for a couple of hours in Rio Ceballos to help us out.  Then I headed to Arguello with Elder Perez, and spoke only Spanish for the next 36 hours. Arguello was way different, they have a washing machine and a blender in their apartment, and AC!  We don’t.  No mountains there either, it is literally just a neighborhood, set up in a grid system, totally the opposite of my area. This week was full of giving blessings, pretty sure I assisted with 3 or 4, and also went out with the Bishop and gave the sacrament to a number of people.  We have 4 baptismal dates, 2 for the 26th of September and 2 for the 27th.  We’ll see who actually arrives, 3 of the 4 are either children or grandchildren of part-member families.  In Arguello, I ate 6 milanessas (steaks) in about 4 hours.  I am definitely putting on some weight!  This week was really good though, crazy that we are 5 weeks done with the transfer already!

Today was Day of the Virgin Mary for the Catholics, they had a parade. Also I got to do service on Saturday, I helped paint a school.  Got to do the basketball hoops, definitely one of the highlights of the week.

Answers to your questions - The most interesting food I ate this week was rice and pollo, pretty normal food here.  My Spanish speaking companion was from Peru.  I understand about 95% of the Spanish anybody speaks, so there were no communication issues.  I didn´t teach at church, and today for Pday everybody came to Rio Ceballos again to play basketball and soccer, because we have the best court and field.  I played basketball for like 4 hours today, it was a blast. There are probably 20 youth in the ward that are active.  My favorite Article of Faith is the 4th one, because that it my purpose as a missionary, to help others come unto Christ by exercising the principles taught in the 4th Article of Faith.  We use pass along cards, and especially the ‘I am a Mormon cards’. We don’t sing a ton, although we did this week when we were teaching the grandchildren of Hermana Cabrera who want to be baptized. We sang I am a Child of God in Spanish.

I am glad to hear everybody is doing well!  Love you all!

Elder Mangum

Parade for the Day of the Virgin Mary

Hola

Hola,

This week was pretty good.  Started off by going bowling last Monday in Cordoba Capital, the city.  That was a blast, and we walked around downtown for a while, definitely one of the areas I would like to serve in, unfortunately it is the sister's area, so I doubt I will get the chance.  The best part of Tuesday was the dinner, we went to Familia Keller´s house they are about 25 and have a 6 month old baby, and are probably the most similar to gringos that I have met here.  Dinner was pancakes and hamburgers, and Root Beer! First time my companion has had root beer in the past 16 months, definitely not something that is common here.  Wednesday we had a district meeting, but the whole zone met together afterwards because our mission is part of a pilot program for New/Different/Not so New or Different Key Indicators. Friday we went out with the Ward Mission Leader for the first time.  It was good to get to know him better, he is a taxi driver and works from about 4AM to anywhere between 6 and 10PM every day except Sunday.  

Sunday was the first time an investigator that I taught and actually helped showed up to church.  Her name is Alejandra, she is about 45, and her mother is a recent convert.  Both struggle with the word of wisdom, we'll have to work pretty hard on that.  After church, my companion and I went out with the Stake President, who is a member of our ward, and visited 3 of the families in the ward who have almost nothing.  A member of the ward went with us and pulled us aside afterwards and said: This is what the church is all about. Visiting the elderly, the poor, and the sick.  This is why you were called here. It was really neat, and true.  Reminded me of two passages of scripture, Matthew 25:31-40, and James 1:27.  We do a lot of that on the mission.

Nugget from the Book of Mormon for the week: 2nd Nephi 2:27.  With reasoning like that, not much of a discussion about which is better or what somebody ought to choose.  Also, this week I read Our Search for Happiness by Elder Ballard, and Our Heritage, both from the missionary reference library. Quick reads, but excellent books, learned quite a bit.  From tonight through Wednesday, the zone is doing Intercambois Cruzadas, which means everybody is on an exchange with somebody else.  I am headed to Arguello, with an Elder that only speaks Spanish.  Should be an experience, looking forward to it!

Family Q&A's - I got my mission debit card, so money is good now.  Favorite legendary Pokémon would have to be Articuno.  My apartment is like a normal house, I sleep in a top bunk just like at home which makes it easier to fall asleep. Everybody has dogs as pets, and some are nice.  We play soccer on Pdays, and a little basketball every once in a while.  We buy groceries from a grocery store called Valig.  Best part of the day is studying.  Worst is climbing up the mountain to get to the pension.  A scripture I used this week was Helaman 5:12, with an elderly lady who we brought the sacrament to yesterday.  Glad everybody is doing well!

Love,

Elder Mangum

2 Months!

Friends and Family,

Tomorrow marks 2 months in the mission.  It definitely hasn't felt like 2 months!  Time is flying by.  This week especially, it seems like just yesterday that I was typing up an email to everybody.  This week was really good, a few highlights include-

Monday we had FHE at a less active's home (Familia Funes), they invited their neighbors and a bunch of members from the ward, over 20 people!  We had lots of food and karaoke, then us missionaries taught the Restoration and the members all shared their testimonies of Joseph Smith.  It was really neat, and the neighbors are interested in coming to church and taking the lessons! This week we spent a lot of time trying to find less actives, we were given a list of 15 to find, and a grand total of 2 still lived in the addresses they gave us.  It was good though, we found a few potential investigators through doing it.  

Wednesday was my first Zone Conference, the theme was references and to remember to always ask for them.  We had to wake up at 4 in the morning to travel into the city for the conference.  It was a lot of fun though, got to meet a lot of new missionaries and see one of my fellow greenies.  Thursday was my first service project of the mission, which was washing the Bishop´s car. Doesn't really seem like much, but he really appreciated it.  Also had a really good lesson with a less active, Andrea Torres, who works on Sunday, has 3 kids, and her husband is not a member.  One of the first times where I took the lead in the lesson and I told the story about making the decision not to play basketball on Sundays because it is the Lord's day, even though my team had games and tournaments practically every Sunday.  I was afraid my coaches or teammates would be upset or angry, but everybody understood, and the 80 year old coach admired and appreciated it.  Told the whole story in Spanish, and also invited her nonmember husband to take the kids to church because they all really wanted to go.  Heck, the 7 year old daughter drew a picture of her eating the fruit of the tree of life during our lesson on it.  That was a neat day.

Saturday we took a recent convert out with us to visit less actives and investigators for the entire day, which was really good.  They were able to share experiences and stories with the investigators that neither my companion nor I would have been able to share.  Sunday was the best meal I have ever had here, fried chicken and french fries, all homemade. Fantastic, reminded me of home. 

This week was really good, and we are halfway done with the transfer already. Time is definitely flying by! Hope everybody is doing well at home.

Love you all.

Elder Mangum

- Sorry I can´t send pictures this week, I'm on an older computer that doesn't accept the SD card.  Love you all!

Priesthood Blessings

In Michael's last email home, he talked about having the opportunity to give a couple of Priesthood blessings for healings on his mission.  

Below is a video that Michael liked a lot as he prepared to serve a mission that talks about being worthy to give blessings and the importance of preparing oneself to serve whenever the need arises.  It is humbling and wonderful to see Elder Mangum serving and growing this way as he serves the Lord and the people of Argentina.